Now that I’m back to regularly blogging once again, I wanted to document the software tools I use, along with my rationale for their use. My blogging chain is Mac-based, and each of the apps listed below are exclusive to this platform.
MarsEdit, by Red Sweater Software, is my preferred tool for writing and publishing posts. Having local back-ups for each and every post is very important to me. MarsEdit offers this feature, and much, much more. The biggest benefit to using the program is that I can draft new posts locally on my Mac, without the need to login to WordPress.
Every post on this site, with the exception of the first three articles, have been written using MarsEdit. MarsEdit removes the friction associated with posting to WordPress, making the process of drafting new posts something I actually look forward to.
Transmit, from Panic Software, is a powerful and elegant FTP application for the Mac. I’ve used Transmit for three decades now, starting with its first version, released on classic MacOS. It’s fast and intuitive, making working between local files and servers a breeze. I also use it to quickly shuttle files between my Mac and my Linux boxen on my local network.
Reading is just as important as writing. For keeping up with my favorite blogs, I use NetNewsWire, an open source RSS reader for the Mac (and iOS). I have this application running on both Macs and my iPhone. I use iCloud to keep my RSS feeds in sync, so I can always pick up where I left off, regardless of what device I’m using. NetNewsWire is free, fast, and intuitive (do you see a pattern here?).
I also use a custom action to convert HEIC images shared from my iPhone to smaller sized JPEG files I can use with my posts.
And that’s my Mac blogging stack.
-Krishna